


isn't it fun, you were always the one

by o_aphrodite



Category: folklore - Taylor Swift (Album)
Genre: F/F, Fix-It, Friends to Frenemies to Lovers, High School, Just Two Girls Standing 0 Feet Apart Because They're In Love, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26336278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o_aphrodite/pseuds/o_aphrodite
Summary: Betty hasn't seen Inez in homeroom, and she thinks it's 'cause of her.
Relationships: Betty/Inez
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	isn't it fun, you were always the one

Inez was smoking a cigarette behind the bleachers. Betty knew she’d find her there, but her chest felt tight when she saw her all the same.

Inez looked good. She’d cut her long, auburn hair into a chic bob since summer ended, and her curls bounced when she coughed around the smoke in her lungs. She wore navy blue tights to hide the short length of her plaid skirt, and a t-shirt Betty recognized as one of James’s, tied in a knot at the front.

She hadn’t noticed Betty’s approach, so Betty cleared her throat. Inez’s head snapped up, although her shoulders relaxed when she saw it was only Betty. Still, she eyed Betty warily as Betty stepped forward, tottering on the balls of her feet so that her heels wouldn’t sink into the dirt.

“You weren’t in homeroom,” Betty said with a tight smile. She’d hoped it was friendly, but Inez scowled, and the smile slid from Betty’s face. “I thought you were absent, but Blake said you drove her this morning.”

“I did,” Inez said. She dropped her cigarette and ground it beneath the toe of her Chuck Taylors.

“I haven’t seen you since school started,” Betty said. “Do you need notes or anything? I don’t know which teachers you have, but there’s probably some crossover.”

“I’ve been to class,” Inez replied, eyebrows furrowed. “I just haven’t shown up to homeroom since I saw your name on the roster.” 

“Oh,” Betty said. They fell into an awkward silence, each waiting for the other to blink first. It was silly and childish, and Betty knew she should say something, but she hadn’t expected to be so distracted by the curve of Inez’s lips or the length of her legs.

Finally, unable to take the weight of Inez’s brown eyes for any longer, Betty blurted, “I’m sorry.”

She took a small amount of pride in how Inez’s jaw dropped.

“ _You’re_ sorry?” Inez sputtered. “What _for_ , I’m the one who—”

“I didn’t invite you to my party,” Betty interrupted, willing away the white-hot pain Inez’s almost-admission left in her chest. Inez blinked.

“Girl, it’s fine. After everything that went down, I wasn't exactly expecting an invite,” Inez said, snorting and shaking her head. Her curls bounced, and Betty swallowed the lump in her throat. “Leave it to you to apologize to _me_. You’re something else.”

“I’m really not,” Betty muttered. Inez raised her eyebrows, so Betty amended, “I mean—I’m really not done.”

She paused, waiting for Inez to roll her eyes or leave or tease, but Inez just waited with an earnest frown. Betty took a steadying breath.

“I just—it's not that I didn’t invite you because of James. It wasn’t about him—well, it was, but not how—fuck, hold on,” Betty cupped her face and breathed again.

In.

And out.

In.

And—

“Okay.” Betty looked up and Inez was still watching her, but with a worried, pursed expression. Betty knew she must have looked a mess and she knew she must have smeared some of her makeup against her hands, but she was _trying_.

“Okay,” Betty said again, rolling her shoulders. 

“Okay…?” Inez offered hesitantly. Betty shot her a _look_ , and Inez zipped her lips.

“Okay,” Betty began. “I didn’t invite you because... it was awful. It was an absolutely awful party. I mean, it was probably fine for what it was, but I was miserable. It’s hard to be at a party when you feel like an open wound.”

Inez hugged herself and looked away. “I know, I’m sorry, I—”

“No, stop, I’m not finished,” Betty said, holding up her hand. Inez glanced back at Betty curiously. Her knuckles were white where she gripped her own elbows and didn’t _that_ make Betty hurt. “I felt like a thrown out, threadbare hand-me-down. And I know you probably felt the same. And that sucks. It fucking _sucks_ that either of us had to feel that way, and I’m sorry that it happened the way it did.”

Inez chewed her lower lip as her eyes flicked down. Betty steeled herself.

“But I think it had to happen that way.”

Inez dropped her arms and, for the second time that afternoon, her mouth fell open. "What?" she splurted. Betty puffed out her chest and crossed her arms. 

“I’m saying, I think I needed that kick to the teeth to realize I didn’t—I _don’t_ care that James ran around with you all summer.” She gritted her teeth. “I do care that _you_ ran around with him.”

Inez dropped her arms. “Listen, I know. I know what I did was fucked up and I know he wasn’t mine—”

“But _I_ could be,” Betty blurted. Inez blinked. Betty’s heart stuttered, but she’d come too far to take it back. She licked her lips. “I mean—if you’d have me. If you want me.”

Inez stared, wide-eyed and Betty cracked a sheepish grin. Inez opened her mouth and then closed it again. She covered her mouth, and for a moment her eyes looked glossy. And then, Inez’s hand fell away, and Inez smiled. A genuine, wide _smile_.

“God, you’re still such a dork. But you’re my favorite dork,” Inez snorted, grabbing Betty by her cardigan and pulling her close.

Betty was taller than Inez, at least in those heels, but Inez stood on her tallest tiptoes and kissed Betty with an unexpected ferocity that left Betty drunk. When they pulled apart, Inez’s lips were smeared with Betty’s black lipstick, and her brown eyes were bright, and both girls were a little out of breath, and Betty _laughed_.

Betty laughed because she felt as light as she had when she was seven, her feet in the swing over the creek behind Inez’s house. She felt as light as the bubbly champagne she stole from her mother when she was 15; the champagne she split with Inez behind the mall.

She laughed because maybe this was always how it was always meant to be. Her and Inez, tied together by an invisible string, on a golden September afternoon beneath the bleachers.

“You never—you never gave me any signs,” Inez breathed when Betty's laughter subsided. 

Betty shook her head. “I gave so many signs.”

“And you're sure?” Inez murmured, knuckles white where she gripped Betty's cardigan. “You’re sure you know what you want?”

“I know that I want you,” Betty insisted, cupping Inez's face. “And that’s enough.”


End file.
